The Birth of Modern Nursing

History Through Art

International Nurses Day -- May 12

Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, Clara Barton -- the women who transformed healthcare, documented through the art of their era. Exceptional prints from the Crimean War to the Civil War.

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The Collection

In 1854, Florence Nightingale arrived at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari with 38 volunteer nurses, stepping into conditions so appalling that more soldiers were dying of disease than of battle wounds. What followed was a revolution in healthcare -- documented in vivid detail by the artists, journalists, and photographers of the day.

This collection spans the full story of modern nursing's emergence: Nightingale's iconic lamp at Scutari, her pioneering coxcomb diagram that changed the language of statistics, Jerry Barrett's monumental painting The Mission of Mercy, Roger Fenton's Crimean War photographs, and the remarkable portraits of Mary Seacole -- the Jamaican-born nurse whose "British Hotel" on the front lines was documented in seven surviving images.

Across the Atlantic, Clara Barton tended wounded soldiers on Civil War battlefields and later founded the American Red Cross. Sojourner Truth, who visited Union hospitals, was captured in striking carte-de-visite portraits. Together, these images tell the story of women who built a profession through courage, science, and relentless compassion.

Collection Highlights

Nightingale Portraits

The Lady with the Lamp, from daguerreotype to painted legend

Scutari Scenes

Barrack Hospital interiors and the Crimean War front lines

The Coxcomb Diagram

Nightingale's pioneering data visualization, 1858

Mary Seacole

Seven images documenting the "other" Crimean War nurse

Clara Barton

Brady portrait and Civil War-era photographs

Civil War Nursing

Sanitary Commission, field hospitals, and the women who served

55 images across 9 narrative sections -- the most comprehensive visual collection of nursing history available as exceptional-quality prints.